


Sunburst

by yodepalma



Series: limit break [15]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Awkwardness, Cuddling & Snuggling, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Headcanon, M/M, the cat is helping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-15 20:38:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10557356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yodepalma/pseuds/yodepalma
Summary: Gladio and Prompto spend a night alone. Well. Except for the cat.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Uhhh so this is...almost a month in the works, and meant to be a companion piece specifically to [this post](https://gladiocats.tumblr.com/post/158412078877/journal-entry-113) from my RP blog, as well as to rhymeswithpi's [white wind](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10314053). Both fics take place on the same night.
> 
> Um. Be prepared for my specialty: soul-destroying amounts of sheer unadulterated fluff. That's the entirety of this story. All three thousand fucking words of it. I blame Sir Fluff.
> 
> And, uh, don't mind the casual references to things we haven't posted yet. FICS ARE IN THE WORKS. They're just...hard to write? :D

_Sunburst_

When he'd announced his intention to camp rather than be stuck sharing one of the tiny caravan beds again, the last thing he'd expected was for someone to join him. He wasn't stupid. He knew he was the only one that actually _liked_ camping, that Prompto and Noct only put up with it out of necessity and Iggy was ambivalent about it at best. So he'd figured, well, camping alone might be a little boring, but he could at least look forward to having the whole tent to himself and maybe foregoing clothes entirely for a night.

Then he'd heard somebody scrambling up the side of the haven, rock scraping noisily under their feet, and he finished pinning the tent down before he turned to see who it was. If anything he was expecting a random hunter who didn't have the gil for the caravan. _Maybe_ Iggy wanting a break if, you know, that wouldn't require leaving Noct without a guard. He didn't consider for a second it might be Prompto.

But there he was, giving Gladio a shaky smile as he walked across the haven. The sun at his back practically made him glow, but that was nothing new. He glowed in any light, utterly distracting, and Gladio's voice got caught in his throat every time. It was ridiculous. He could talk to anyone, he'd charmed a number of people of both genders into his bed, and somehow it was _Prompto_ who made him doubt his ability to say 'hi' without sounding like an idiot.

"I-I thought you m-might like some company," Prompto interrupted his internal bitching. He was twisting his hands together nervously and Gladio wanted to reach out and still them but he wasn't sure, even after all the talking they'd done, how much he was allowed to touch.

Relationships were stupid. This was why he'd been avoiding them since his last failed attempt.

Gladio cleared his throat before he tried to speak. "Thanks," he said, voice still too gruff. For the love of fuck. "Guess it would've been kinda lonely."

Prompto beamed, because sometimes it was way too easy to cheer him up, and carefully started sliding his bag off his shoulder. He put it on the ground so gently Gladio started to worry about what might be in it. Then a tiny fuzzy head popped out from under the flap, looked around at Gladio, and meowed pitifully.

"Sir Fluff," Gladio sighed over Prompto’s laughter. The cat meowed again, wriggled itself through the gap, and trotted over to rub up against Gladio's legs. Gladio scooped him up, held him securely against his chest and felt his lips curl up fondly as the purr rumbled through him. "You're such a nuisance."

"Aw, don't talk to him like that," Prompto pouted, stepping in close to scratch Fluff under the chin. "He was just worried about you."

"Worried about where dinner was going to come from tonight, you mean." Gladio pet Fluff too, long strokes down his back that made him purr louder, but his eyes weren't on the cat.

Prompto seemed to feel the weight of Gladio's gaze eventually, his cheeks growing pink. When he glanced up and caught Gladio’s eyes, his entire face flushed red.

"W-w-we should finish getting camp set up!" He said, jumping backwards and stumbling over his own feet. Gladio reached out automatically to steady him.

"You mean I should finish setting it up, right?" He managed to keep his voice light, but doubted he hid the fondness in his expression nearly so well. "Unless you want Cup Noodles, you should figure something out for dinner."

"Noodles are fine!" Prompto's gaze fell to the cat again, and his blush started to fade as he frowned at it. "Maybe not for Fluff, though."

"Better figure out what we've got then." Gladio gave Prompto's arm a friendly slap that made him jump, and then he forced himself to turn away. There wasn't much left to put up, but he should probably double-check the tent anyway. And if busying themselves with normal things would make Prompto relax, well, he wasn't going to complain.

By the time it had gotten dark and they were eating by the fire (Fluff scarfing down some mysterious meat Gladio refused to ask about), Prompto was at least pretending to be back to his usual self. It was a bit strange to be alone with him—really alone, that is, without Noct and Iggy a few feet away and able to interrupt at any moment. They talked longer than they probably should have, and Gladio managed to forget about the rest of the world for a little while. It was worryingly easy to ignore things in the face of Prompto's endless enthusiasm.

Well, except for Sir Fluff deciding Gladio hadn't given him enough attention. It was hard to pretend nothing was happening when ten pounds of cat was clawing its way up your leg.

"Dammit, Fluff!" Gladio growled, prying the cat's claws loose from his pants and settling the damn thing in his lap. Prompto laughed, loudly enough that Gladio couldn't stop himself from glaring, but his look probably lost all its effect as Fluff purred loudly and rubbed his face against Gladio's chest. "Can't even have a conversation with you around, can I?"

"That's what you get for leaving him for so long," Prompto said. He moved his chair until it was flush against Gladio's own, leaning over the arms so he could pet Fluff as well. Gladio watched Prompto’s fingers rub the cat’s ears for a few seconds, but his gaze was inevitably drawn to Prompto’s face instead. His expression was almost serene, the faintest of grins stretching his lips, and Gladio found himself brushing Prompto’s hair behind his ear before he could talk himself out of it. Prompto looked up slowly, startlement fading easily into embarrassment, but he didn’t pull away.

“Can I kiss you?” Gladio asked. He leaned forward a little, hopeful but cautious. Prompto was too jumpy to just go for it, as much as he wanted to; he’d already learned the hard way what happened when he came on too strongly.

“I—“ Prompto licked his lips, all of his peace from a moment earlier drained away. “I d-don’t th-think I’m ready—”

“Oh.” Gladio could feel his heart drop, and his face must have gone with it because Prompto made a distressed noise and started gesturing some nonsense with his hands.

“I’m sorry!” he said, voice gone up a pitch in distress. “I’m r- _really_ sorry, I’m just—please don’t be mad—”

“Mad?” Gladio asked, baffled.

“You’re so _disappointed_.”

“Well, yeah. I really wanted to kiss you.” Gladio tried a little smile, hoping to lighten the mood again, but Prompto started twisting his hands together and wouldn’t look him in the eye. Gladio did grab his hands this time, partly because it looked like it hurt, but mostly because Prompto looked like he was going to get up and bolt back to the caravan, daemons be damned. And he just wasn’t prepared for someone to run away from him again. “Look, I _am_ disappointed because I don’t get to kiss you…but that sounded like a ‘not now’, not a ‘never.’ Right?”

There was a long enough silence that Gladio was starting to think he’d misunderstood, but Prompto finally nodded. Jerkily, but definitely a yes, and his wrists twisted in Gladio’s loose grip until he was clenching Gladio’s hands in his own. Gladio smiled down at him, a little too fondly.

“I think I can wait until you’re ready,” Gladio admitted. He’d might as well, really. He’d already accepted that he was too hung up on Prompto to move on. “I’ve waited this long. A bit more won’t kill me.”

“Are you sure I’m worth it?” Prompto’s whisper was so soft it was a miracle Gladio had heard it. He probably hadn’t even meant to be heard, but Gladio was so focused on him it would’ve been impossible to miss it.

Gladio took a deep breath, forcing himself to stop and think before he blurted out that, yes, of _course_ Prompto was worth it. Prompto was always so cheerful and upbeat it was hard to remember that he was more complicated underneath, and seeing _this_ particular type of uncertainty was rare. Gladio was never really sure how to deal with it.

“I think you’re worth finding out,” he said eventually, holding his breath as he waited to see if it was the right response.

“Okay,” Prompto said, but he didn’t really relax. “Can we stop talking about this now?”

Gladio laughed shortly, caught off-guard. “Fuck yes,” he said emphatically. “Let’s just go to bed.”

‘Just’ going to bed was its own exercise in awkwardness. Prompto was even more shy than usual, and Gladio rolled his eyes as he was asked to wait _outside the tent_ while Prompto got changed. Fucking ridiculous.

He mightn’t have minded so much if Prompto didn’t take so long. He started cleaning up the camp out of sheer boredom, Sir Fluff trailing along in his wake and trying to kill Gladio every time he turned around. Cats, man. He loved the stupid things, but every so often he sort of wanted to kick them.

He didn’t get much done before Prompto was poking his head out of the tent to tell Gladio he was dressed, and Gladio sighed with relief. He picked Fluff up, because the only way to get him into the tent was to carry him in and he really didn’t want the cat wandering off in the dead of night, and ducked into the tent. Prompto was wearing actual pajama pants with little chocobos on them.

“Hold this a sec,” Gladio said, dumping Sir Fluff in Prompto’s arms. Prompto yelped in surprise, but pulled Fluff in close to his chest and hugged him with a pout. Gladio just turned and closed the tent so Fluff couldn’t get out while they were asleep. With that done, he unceremoniously peeled off his tanktop and threw it vaguely in the direction of this bag. His pants would have followed it, but when he pulled his zipper down he heard Prompto make a strangled noise. He looked up to find that Prompto had lifted Sir Fluff high enough he could bury his face in the cat’s side, and what parts of him were visible were alarmingly red. It was actually the most adorable thing Gladio had ever seen. _Fuck_.

“Oh, come on,” he said. “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.” Because privacy was hard to come by on a trip like this, and Gladio didn’t exactly have anything to hide. He’s _pretty sure_ he’s basically stripped out in the open before on spectacularly hot days, because leather just was not something you wanted to be wearing on a humid day.

“B-but we’re alone!” Prompto wailed, or at least attempted to around the mouthful of cat fur. “At least _warn me_.”

“Okay. I’m taking off my pants now.” Gladio snorted when Prompto made another little noise of horror, but there was no way Gladio was sleeping in those things. He kicked off his pants, but walked over to his bag so he could dig through it in search of a clean pair of pants he could sleep in. He thought it was too damn hot to bother, but it’d make Prompto more comfortable. “There, I’m decent.”

“No, you’re not,” Prompto muttered, but at least he lowered Fluff. Then he made a face and started picking cat fur out of his mouth. “Uuugh.”

“Next time, don’t use the cat to shield your innocent eyes,” Gladio suggested, grinning at the glare he was given. Prompto was even less threatening than a kitten; at least kittens had claws.

He took the two steps back across the tent to reach Prompto again, loosely wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling him close. He wasn't so pushy he was willing to keep Prompto there against his will. When Prompto only swayed closer to him, Gladio leaned down and brushed a soft kiss over his cheek, just under his eye so he wouldn’t think Gladio was trying to kiss him again. He felt Prompto’s cheeks heat up, and he pulled away just far enough to admire the blush.

“Why don’t you lay down while I get the light off?” Gladio suggested. “Might as well make the most of the time alone.”

“Wh-what?” Prompto asked, flinching away from him abruptly. “I-I don’t—I’m n-not—”

It took Gladio a second to realize what Prompto _thought_ he’d been saying, and he felt his own cheeks heat up a little as he waved his hands in the air to get Prompto to stop stammering. “No! No, just, sleeping next to me on purpose, okay? Instead of cuddling up to me in your sleep. Unless you don’t want to.”

He really hoped that Prompto _did_ want to. He didn't mind that Prompto was downright clingy in his sleep, but he did that to _everyone_ if you gave him the chance. It would be different to fall asleep already holding him, without having to feel guilty for every little touch he couldn't resist. It would mean something.

"Oh," Prompto said quietly. He still looked a bit startled, but at least he seemed less inclined to bolt. "Sorry, I just—that's fine. I mean, I'd like that?"

"Okay, cool. I'll just—" Gladio gestured vaguely toward the lantern and Prompto nodded, head bobbing a little too fast. It was hard for Gladio not to _watch_ him lay down, knowing that in a short minute he'd be right there with him, but he forced himself to focus on the light instead. He kept his movements unhurried so he wouldn't seem too eager, worried that Prompto would get the wrong idea again. The light died with a satisfying little click, and he picked his way back to Prompto in the dark.

It was a lot more awkward curling up with Prompto while they were both awake than he expected it to be. Prompto wouldn't stop fidgeting, like he couldn't get comfortable, and that made Gladio fidget in return.

"Are you sure—?"

"Yes!" Prompto's expression was hard to judge in the dark, but Gladio thought he could see his lips thin in determination. Prompto curled in against him, tucking his head in under Gladio's chin and throwing an arm over Gladio's waist. Gladio bit his tongue against the urge to ask Prompto if he was sure again, and opted instead to push his fingers through Prompto's hair. Prompto made a little noise that sounded appreciative, so Gladio followed it by sliding his fingers down Prompto's neck and back, marveling at the feel of solid muscle in so small of a body. He wondered, idly, why it was that Prompto's confidence failed so often, what Gladio and Noct and Iggy saw in him that Prompto had never managed to find himself.

But that was a thought for another day. Tonight he settled for running his fingers up and down Prompto's spine, smiling as he slowly fell asleep.

Gladio woke up to Iggy's voice calling to them from outside the tent, which wasn't unusual. The new part was Iggy's open insinuation that he and Prompto were having a _far_ better morning than they actually were.

"Do you think he'll go away if I moan loud enough?" Gladio asked. He tried to pull Prompto in closer, though it was practically impossible, and was thwarted by Iggy demanding something about them coming out fully dressed.

The idea of being _naked_ while alone in a tent with Gladio was apparently too much for Prompto, who was out of the tent and protesting before Gladio noticed his arms were empty. Gladio rolled over onto his back and groaned.

Sir Fluff, apparently sensing weakness, appeared out of nowhere and flopped across Gladio's face. Gladio kind of resented mornings, just a little.

He nudged Fluff off his face and dragged himself over to his bag, thinking vaguely that he might as well get dressed if he was going to be awake anyway. But as he shoved his sweatpants away, a terrible thought crossed his mind, and he didn't bother to stop his smirk as he left the tent. He could feel Prompto staring as he picked his way over to the camp stove, leaning over it so Iggy couldn't pretend to ignore him.

"We had a _great_ night," Gladio said, keeping his voice as low and suggestive as he could without laughing. "And how was the caravan with Prince Charmless?"

Iggy gave him a look that was impressively flat even by _his_ standards. "I distinctly recall saying pants were a requirement for getting breakfast," he said.

"You _also_ thought we were fucking when you said it," Gladio pointed out. He probably would've said more, but he was distracted by Prompto making a horrified little noise. Prompto had found his camp chair and curled up in it, hands slapped over his mouth, but he dropped them once attention was on him.

"We weren't doing _anything_!" Prompto said, his words running into each other. "We were just sleeping, Gladio, please, why are you _like this_?"

Iggy sighed, sounding faintly tired as he apparently decided to leave the conversation entirely. Gladio had to bite back a smile, but he _did_ feel a tinge of guilt about how horrified Prompto was. He held up his hands as he inched back toward the tent.

"Alright, fine, I'll put my pants back on," he grumbled. He caught Prompto's eye and offered a gentle smile. "Wasn't lying about it being a great night, though."  
  
The blush slammed onto Prompto's face as fast as Gladio had expected it to, but it came with a wry sort of grin that made Gladio's heart feel like it was fluttering. Gladio would be annoyed by it if he wasn't so damn happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompto is awkward and Gladio is shameless. That's it; that's their entire relationship.


End file.
